Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Helping you find the Nonprofits to Know

By Jeff AchenInteractive Media StrategistMinnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation

Have you heard about Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation’s new web video series, Nonprofits to Know™? Like the work of Charities Review Council, the Foundations’ Nonprofits to Know™ series shines a spotlight on reputable nonprofits that are having a real impact in their communities.

Each 3-4 minute Nonprofits to Know™ video focuses on a nonprofit that is doing extraordinary work in Minnesota. The teams from the Foundations’ grants and program, development, and marketing and communications departments collaborate to identify the nonprofits we will feature. Charities Review Council has partnered with the Foundations to spread the word about these videos and will also use email and social media point out which featured nonprofits have completed the Accountability Wizard review process.

When we create a video about a nonprofit, we see it as a great tool for the nonprofit to use in its own capacity building. We encourage each featured nonprofit to distribute the video through social media, email and its own website. The Foundations also help to distribute the video—posting it on our YouTube channel, creating links to it on our website and via social media, and emailing links to individuals in our network that we think would like to learn more about the work of the particular nonprofit. We’re also proud to be posting these videos complete with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

Clearly, the nonprofits benefit from the video series—many of which have wanted to create videos but have been budget constrained to do so. But we believe that our Foundations also benefit from this initiative. The Nonprofits to Know™ series help us demonstrate our expertise in identifying nonprofits doing great work in the community, and we believe the videos help us create partnerships with donors, nonprofits and community leaders who want to do innovative and extraordinary work.

Here are other reviewed organizations that also have a Nonprofits to Know™ video: